BEIJING - The scale of China's public offering funds reached 18.31 trillion yuan ($2.78 trillion) by the end of October this year, data from the Asset Management Association of China showed.

The total assets managed by the funds marked an increase of 2.87 percent from the scale reported at the end of September, according to the association.

At the end of last month, a total of 7,682 public offering funds were operated by fund management entities in the country.

According to the association, the public offering funds were operated by 131 fund management companies, of which 87 were domestic firms, and the rest were joint ventures.

China's asset management business expanded slower in recent years as authorities tightened regulations to contain risks arising from wealth management products.

In 2017, draft guidelines unified rules covering asset management products issued by all financial institutions, requiring them to set leverage ceilings.